Jon Jafari is JonTron, a video game critic on Polaris. Using a cheerful, energetic style and plenty of cutaway gags and visual puns, he talks about a variety of games, most of which are obscure, and all of which turn out to be awful. His sidekick is a green cheek conure named Jacques, who talks in a vaguely robotic voice, has glowing red eyes, and offers stoic commentary to contrast Jon's boundless energy. Crucially, he avoids games exhaustively covered by other reviewers (with a few exceptions from the NES era), focusing rather on early polygonal titles from "gaming's adolescence"; in a sense, Jon could be considered a newer generation of internet critic. Along with PeanutButterGamer, he is one of the co-founders of the resurrected Normal Boots website.

His videos are divided into three seasons - Season 1 (from the start of his channel in 2010 to late 2013), Season 2 (starting after Jon left the Game Grumps in 2013, lasting until the end of 2014), and Season 3 (beginning in early 2015, put on hold to work on StarCade, and returning in fall 2015) - and a mini-series focused on Star Wars games titled StarCade in 2015.

In his earlier videos he was rather serene, criticizing games with little to no anger or emotion, but became considerably more outgoing and energetic as the series went on (with Unfazed Everyman moments to lead the reviews along). It wasn't until towards the end of the first season when Jon began to develop this style, in videos like Bubsy, Nuts and Bolts, and Birdemic, and also started becoming notably more popular. He often reacts to moments in games with exaggerated comments that lead to many popular jokes in the form of clips and gifs, and occasionally uses his own sort of Surreal Humour. He claims to have been inspired mainly by The Angry Video Game Nerd and Spoony. Then he photoshopped them making out.

Jon was inducted into That Guy with the Glasses, specifically Blistered Thumbs (naturally), and once had a second channel JonTronLoL, where he casted League of Legends games with all his characteristic energy. He was also a founding member of Game Grumps, until he left in 2013 to focus on his own endeavours, pushing JonTron into a second season. A Running Joke amongst his fanbase is the lengthy hiatuses between uploads, mostly caused by his involvement in Game Grumps. In 2014, Jon maintained a steady upload schedule, successfully releasing at least one episode every month for the entire year. However, the show was put back on hiatus in 2015 to make way for StarCade.

In May 2015, Jon began a spin-off named StarCade, an extensive look at nearly every Star Wars game ever made. As the spin-off was made with the assistance of a partnership, the production values of StarCade are notably higher than his first show, including a Millennium Falcon set. While Jon initially intended for StarCade to air alongside regular JonTron episodes, StarCade took more time to complete than expected. The mini-series has now been completed after a nine-episode run, with the finale dealing with the infamous travesty of The Star Wars Holiday Special. Before the mini-series ended, on his Twitter, Jon rather blatantly hinted at Season 3 returning on Halloween...which it did.

It's also worth noting that with the sixth Starcade episode, Jon has started a new channel called GreenBoys based around the misadventures of Yoda, which are not only non-related to Jon's work (their only connections are Jon's channel being put in the "related channels" sidebar and Jon being mentioned in the channel description) but also take Jon's Surreal Humor to new highs.

Tropes:

Jon is somehow able to play Minecraft on Super Nintendo by putting in a Metal Gear Solid 3box and taping a GameCube controller to the controller slot. Eventually lampshaded near the start of his video on the Bubsy series.

He's also seen playing games after putting them into the console sideways, upside down, missing the console entirely, submerging both the console and cartridge in water, and on one occasion putting the console on the cartridge (fitting it into the slot after a moment).

Jon's grasp on computing technology is sketchy, too; rather than consult a FAQ for King's Quest, he coded the entire GameFAQs site from scratch.

Jon is also able to watch episodes of the live action Goosebumps by inserting the novels of each episode into several different consoles.

In a more realistic sense, Jon manages to advance further into Takeshi's Challenge when the microphone on the second controller picks up his screaming.

He's able to access the Pro Games Player's original games after he throws the controller on the ground in frustration, because it jostles the cart full of NES ports out.

How does Jon watch the VHS of the Star Wars Holiday Special? By putting it on a record player. And then breaking the cassette with the needle.

In the Dino City Review: "Dishwasher? No. Dishwasher? NO! Dishwasher... OH MY GOD HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID THE SMBS!"

Adorkable: Possessed of an odd sense of humor, a heavy New York accent, and a love for birds and musicals.

Aerith and Bob: Accused Herc's Adventures of this, considering the three characters in the game are Herc, Atlanta, and Jason. "One's a...city in Georgia, THE OTHER'S A REGULAR NAME!" note He is wrong, though. The city of Atlanta is named after the Greek mythological character who tried to join the Argonauts, but was denied due to her being female. And the man denying her... was Jason.

Great Bootleg: No one can stop the pain. Please, can you stop the pain?

Angrish: Expect him to fall into this when something particularly stupid happens in a game/movie he's reviewing.

"What is this?! AND WHY IS IT IN MY STARFOX GAME-NO! NO, I'VE HAD IT! AHHHHH I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE! IF ONE MORE FUCKING WOOLLY MAMMOTH ASKS ME TO PICK UP TWO DOUBLE EGGS TEGPABLUGHUGJZQJFLSPLUH"

Animal Motifs: Birds, he's owned at least four and once appeared in a crossover video with Commander Holly and her pigeons. Additionally, he takes a shining to a Conan game when it gives him an "Avian Ally", and spends much of his Star Fox Adventures review lamenting the absence of Falco, who happens to be his favorite Super Smash Bros. Brawl character.

As the Good Book Says: During the chaos befalling the satanic cult in Dark Dungeons, Jon says "John's clocking in at a whopping 3:19!" John 3:19 states "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil", which applies to the D&D corruption in the film.

Awesome, but Impractical: When Jontron discovers that there is a combo list In Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis, he notes that they are pointless because he was able to beat every enemy by just mashing the A button.

Badass Boast: In the intro to his cover of "Firework", he speculates that it was taken down from Soundcloud because Katy Perry's record label was "most likely fearing reasonably that Katy would lose sales to my superior version."

To The Bat Noun: "Did Aquaman lose his hand at the Aqua-Mill? Gotta get those Aqua-Union Benefits! Aqua... Aqua-Dental." (falls silent)

In the "anti-drug games" episode, Jon says that his dad doesn't wear pants similar to Wally Bear's father. We then see an urn tipping over and spilling its contents, with Jon saying "Dad!" in a very realistic and saddened manner.

The ending of the Hercules episode, where Jon just flat-out gives up and puts himself to rest using Advil and alcohol.

Bleep Dammit: The quick time event video starts with him announcing a new series called "Sh!t That F*cks Games Up". In the caption it's censored correctly, but when Jon says it out loud, every word except "shit" and "fucks" is censored.

At the beginning of his DinoCity review, there's a montage of him trying to put the cartridge into various game systems and electronic devices, including a dishwasher. This returns later when Jon begins raging and throws the cartridge back into the dishwasher.

At the beginning of his Clock Tower review, he talks about all the classic Halloween monsters: Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, Skeletons with guns... maybe not that last one. At the end of the review, a skeleton emerges from behind a door and starts firing a gun wildly.

Another one from "Clock Tower": Jon mentions that people don't visit his house anymore due to his Vincent van Ghoul painting. In fact, it's been several years, and the last person to visit was the scissorman he just killed.

And a THIRD from the same episode: at one point Jon discovers and picks up ham in the game. At the conclusion of the episode, cutting away to hold up a slice in real life with a "this'll kill him." at the end of the episode, he kills a scissorman with the same piece of ham.

A multi-episode one: The last time Rockington was ever acknowledged was way back in the Nuts and Bolts episode, mentioning he had somehow managed to lose a rock. Years later, he shows up again in Starcade's Plug-n-Play episode, as a boss in a game Jon somehow gets by plugging himself into the TV. That rock was really lost.

The finale of StarCade references the Clock Tower video, where Jon likened the main antagonist's death in the game (falling off a cliff due to some birds) to Palpatine's death, by having it literally happen to Palpatine courtesy of a reborn Jacques.

In his Anti Drug Games review when he finds out there was a Nightshade competition thanks to his issue of GamePro: "I AIIIIIIIIN'T gonna take that sitting down."

Top 10 Nintendo Overworlds, on Peach's Castle: "I'll never forget you, old friend. (Beat) Castles can't be friends." Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, on Spiral Mountain: "It's good to see you again, old friend. (Beat) Mountains can't be friends."

An extremely subtle one in his Nightshade video. After Jon gets fed up with the game, he pulls it out of its console. However, a second before the transition, you can see that he pulled an NES cartridge out of a DVD player.

The StarCade finale references the Game Grumps' discussion of the "do it!" joke from Revenge of the Sith.

In "Takeshi's Challenge", he professes a disgust and dislike toward goblins out of nowhere. In the "X-Wing" episode of StarCade, he destroys the entire X-Wing operation (already failing miserably) when he finds out that "Goblin-Head Boy" is on the squadron.

Paul Ritchey from Continue has made several appearances in some episodes, such as Foodfight! and Conan the Barbarian.

Chris "Kirbopher" Niosi makes a vocal cameo in the Goosebumps episodes. This is following Jon's appearance on Niosi's own show, TOME, as the voice of Sniper Wheel.

He has appeared at the beginning of The Nostalgia Critic's "Nostalgiaween" episodes in 2014, stabbing him to death in vengeance for Critic reviewing Food Fight so soon after he did.

He appears as a guest in an episode of James Rolfe's "James and Mike Mondays" where he plays Bomberman 2 with James Rolfe and Mike Matei. He also appears in a 3-D World Runner episode of the same show.

He also makes a vocal cameo in, of all places, the beta of A Hat In Time, where he voices a penguin in a snazzy suit.

Ross and Commander Holly actually cameoed in the Space Ace episode as well when Jon breaks into their house. Holly's grandfather was actually an animator on Dragon's Lair and Space Ace, hence why they had the animation cells.

Pink Guy appears as a drummer at the end of The Skateboard Kid review.

Candid Camera Prank: The second 'Gaming in Public' episode. To prove that people would exaggerate the (alleged) harmfulness of video games, Jon created a bogus petition claiming the Nintendo 3DS caused blindness in children (featuring, among other things, the phrase "Heil Hitler") and asked random passersby to sign it for him. All of them signed without reading... and one of them signed even after having read it. Jon, naturally, crowned him King.

Canon Discontinuity: A few of Jon's earlier videos were deleted, which he alludes to in "Mighty Maxed Out" when the game comes to life and forces him to relive the videos he or the audience didn't like. Jon reacts, in characteristic fashion, by rugby-tackling the game, punching it, and then attacking the cartridge with a power saw. Yeah, Jon really doesn't like those old videos.

Canon Immigrant: We already knew Jon doesn't truck with this type of character, as shown in Game Grumps (his response to Kimi from Rugrats). Then comes along the PAL Home Alone game with a Distaff Counterpart for Macaulay Culkin, along with a pair of Ambiguously Brown playmates. The plot thickens.

Jon: Don't you remember these iconic characters from the film? "Kelly"? "Carl"? "Carly"? My—my favorite scene with them was this one: (horrific explosions)

Chekhov's Gun: Parodied in "Clock Tower". Briefly shown fairly early in the video, Scissor Man's one true weakness is ham. This is used at the end of the video, when Jon is attacked by Scissor Man himself.

Chekhov's Gunman: In "Clock Tower", Skeletons with Guns are mentioned by Jon in a list of halloween costumes, but they show up again at the end of the video once Jon has killed Scissor Man.

Corpsing: Nearly invoked a number of times where Jon is on the verge of completely breaking down. Fully invoked in the "Clock Tower" video where Jon throws up candy corn at the Body Horror shown in part of the game and ends up laughing his ass off.

Credits Gag: At the end of his Nuts & Bolts review, he lists Jon Jafari as playing himself, Jacques, Banjo-Kazooie, the walls, and Trickleham Moose.

Jon is good friends with Ethan Klein of h3h3 productions, and as a result the two have appeared in each other's videos. Ethan appears as the Kool-Aid Man in "Food Games (Part 2)" and plays Counter Strike Global Offensive with Jon, and Jon appears in a video on Ethan's channel where the two share a Papa John's pizza.

Jon is also friends with George Miller of Filthy Frank, and as a result of this Pink Guy ended up on Jon's channel as the drummer in the band that plays at the end of the "Skateboard Kid" episode. Additionally, Jon appears briefly in the "IT'S JUST A PRANK" episode of Filthy Frank.

He apparently speaks *excellent* Japanese. At the end of Takeshi's Challenge, he wrote a letter under candlelight, sealing it with a wax stamp, and delivering it, on camera, all while narrating in perfect Japanese.

Thanks to Jon's schooling in musical arts, he can really belt out a tune. Just take a look at his State of Affairs video.

Cyborg: Jacques appears to be a biological parrot, but Jon did...something to him to make him partially machine. This serves to make Jacques way cooler and funnier than if he was just a regular bird sidekick.

Dance Party Ending: How Starcade ends, with the entire cast having a good 'ole dancing time to the Kinect Star Wars song "I'm Han Solo".

Darker and Edgier: While still hilarious, "Disney Bootlegs" is pretty horrific and grim.

Dawson Casting: In-Universe; Jon calls out Dark Dungeons for the casting of Mistress Frost, who is supposed to be in college but is clearly middle-aged.

Parodied; Jon is seemingly sucked into his Joe & Mac cartridge, only to reappear in his house a moment later. Jacques asks how he managed to escape.

Jon:I just left.

Brick Joke: Turns out the characters from the game can "just leave" too. The episode ends with a dinosaur boss walking into Jon's living room.

Demoted to Extra: Jacques who is appearing a lot less often in Jon's videos since he returned from Game Grumps. Originally he starred as Jon's sidekick and often reviewed the games along with Jon. Since 2013, he is either completely absent from some episodes or only makes brief cameos. This has been explained as Jon avoiding making the gag with him too overused and the fact that as Jacques is a bird, he rarely stays still enough for Jon to properly do skits with him for more than a few seconds at a time.

Deranged Animation: The "Jontron Winter's Tale" video. The animation was even done by Psychicpebbles, no less.

Despair Event Horizon: Most definitely crosses it during his meltdown in "CONKER IS BACK GUYS". Afterwards, we see him looking solemnly into the city and saying "All is lost."

Deus ex Machina: invoked Done intentionally at the end of StarCade — Emperor Palpatine is ultimately disposed by Vader gluing Jacques' head back onto his body and throwing him, causing him to transform into a man in a bird suit and throw Palpatine off the railing.

The earliest episodes had little of the style he eventually grew into and became popular with, instead approaching games more seriously and more in the style of his predecessors. He also lacked his Large Ham persona that he'd grow to obtain, staying extremely calm and stern.

In the early days, Jon had more of a variety of videos and included more sketch based videos (such as Malkovich's Gaming Guilty Pleasure or his Top 10/6 lists).

Jon: ["Pokemon Diamond"] is in fact a Japanese cell-phone-based RPG called "Keitai Denjū Telefang"... Okay, now get this: it means: Mobile Phone Beast...Telefang. Goddammit, that was the word I wanted to know most!

During his review of Zoo Race, he points out that Pirates and Ancient Egyptians were from different times and that one of them might not have existed at all. Whether he was talking about the former or the latter is unknown.

Jon: Where is Falco, he was so awesome [indecipherable] now he's just a dick and that's why they removed him...

Subtitles: Where is Falco/He was so awesome and is essystem of gvoermyna all sincsisd/That's why they removed him

Jon's song is a parody of "A Waltz for Eva and Che" from Evita, and he reverts to the actual lyrics ("system of government") momentarily while struggling to come up with a line.

Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: Averted, as he reviews several crappy games with dinosaurs, and even lampshades their prevalence in his Home Improvement video, saying he hadn't even noticed it until fans pointed it out to him. He ranks dinosaurs alongside spiders and skeletons as video game enemies that are often thrown in with the least amount of sense and originality according to plot, especially in the 16-bit era.

Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Jon tries to reassure himself that Stairfax Temperatures will improve. Can't judge a book by its cover! Unless it's Stuff On My Cat.

The Faceless: Scissor Man when he appears in Jon's house in the Clock Tower video. The camera takes a first person perspective from Scissor Man's view, which changes only when he's been destroyed... by ham.

The end of the Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts video referenced the ending of Birdemic, which he reviewed right after.

In the ending to his Star Fox Adventures video, he threw the disk into space. The very end showed that it was on a crash-course for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, which he reviewed later.

In the beginning of his Clock Tower review, Jon urges Halloween to bring on Draculas, Frankensteins, and "skeletons with a gun in their hands" before dismissing that as not "a thing." In the end, ''a skeleton wielding an automatic pistol breaks out of Jon's closet.

Invoked and Played for Laughs. Jon devised a meaningless ratings system wherein it's actually impossible for a game to receive bad marks (in its own way a dig at Video Game Journalists and their reviews), no matter how much he bashed it in his review. Sonic Colors and Donkey Kong Country Returns received an "A/5" and a "Six Golden Bananas+/Shigeru Miyamoto" respectively; even though Jon spent the whole video mocking them (though it's pretty clear he enjoyed both). Nimbus, described as "A game you will maybe forget", got a B/5.

Regardless, many YouTubefans seem to think that he hates DKCR because of the things he said in his review. A simple comment search would reveal that he'd seriously give the game a 9/10.

Freeze-Frame Bonus: During the second part of his Are You Afraid of the Dark? special, when Jontron mocks a child clearly reading from his script, he looks down at his own script. The script actually has the last few seconds of dialogue on it and the next couple lines for that scene.

At the beginning of the "Charlie's Angels" review, look closely at the trophy that Jon places on the table. It's an actual award that he won back when he was in high school theater; as seen on the engraving, it's a "Best Supporting Actor" award for his performance in Chicago (according to a Q&A at MAGFest, he played Amos Hart).

At the beginning of the "Disney Bootlegs", Bootleg Jacques delivers a cease and desist from Disney. Subverted in that other than the Disney style letters, it looks like a fairly accurate cease and desist.

Funny Background Event: During Final Hallway XIII, when Jon starts panicking as he realizes the gravity of his situation, Jacques is chewing on his ear.

As of "Anti Drug Games", Jon has a wall covered in Beatles portraits behind him...swapping out Ringo Starr for a different absurd or humorous image every time, such as ALF in "Anti Drug Games" and a jack o'lantern in "Clock Tower".

Also, the clerk from the Foodfight! review, who claims to have owned the film for "one million year(s)".

Fun with Subtitles: A major component of his humor. Jon's subtitles will often change according to his speaking tone, and he frequently subtitles the unintelligible.

Gainax Ending: Several episodes have ended in bizarre and hilariously confusing ways, including Jon shooting himself into the Sun, being visited by a demonic Slippy Toad, and launching into a cover of Katy Perry's "Firework".

Genius Ditz: Despite his frenetic and slightly spastic persona, Jon has a very good understanding of game theory and will sometimes take a moment to explain exactly why a particularly bad fault is so fatal. For instance, his comments on being able to ignore the complex combo system in Aquaman and win reliably by mashing the A button leads to an explanation of "Dominant Strategy", and the blatant Breaking the Fourth Wall in Bubsy 3D prompts him to elaborate on Willing Suspension of Disbelief and how such forced self-reference damages it. Since he tends to slow down when explaining these concepts to allow the audience to comprehend what he's saying, he usually lampshades them by shrieking GAME THEORY TIME!! and/or splicing in a The More You Know type clip.

Jon is quick to note some particular moments of Les Yay between Marcie and Debbie in Dark Dungeons, primarily a scene in which Debbie asks Marcie how much fun they could have spending a day alone in their dorm room, as well as another where Debbie compliments Marcie's hands. However, Jon is less attractive to this second example.

Debbie: I think your hands are perfect for spell-casting. So delicate and small... Jon: Ewww.

Reading 3 to 4 YouTube comments caused this to (briefly) happen to him.

In the Stairfax Tempratures review, his reaction to the Bafomdad.

His reaction video to the Conker reveal for Project Spark.

Grievous Bottley Harm: In Howling II: My Sister is a Werewolf, Jon sees someone react quite minimally to getting a bottle thrown at their head, and decides to replicate it by having several real bottles thrown at his head. Jon maintains a similarly dull reaction but briefly notes how much the bottles actually hurt.

In the "Atari Games" episode of StarCade, Darth Vader tries to force choke Jon, but..er..misses his target and instead seizes another vulnerable part of Jon's body.

Jon: (gasp) That's not my throat.

In the "Star Wars Chess" episode, Jon curbstomps "Chewbacca" at chess just by being a cheating bastard, and "Chewie" responds by...eating Jon's dick. Yep, we hear pants unzipping and a LOT of crunching.

Jon thought that Conker was going to get another sequel and that Rare might finally reclaim its former glory. Then it turned out that Conker was only going to make an appearance in Project Spark. Jon was not happy.

A Schmuck Bait tunnel in Bubsy dumping Jon right back at the level's start.

"What? It took me to the beginning of the level. Who cares? I don't care, I don't even- I don't even CARE." (I care immensely.)

In his Monster Bash review, Jon picks up his $150 game disk with a Hot Pocket and slams it into his CD tray while disjointedly singing "Don't forget to be careful with your raaaaare gaaaaaaame! C'mon, s'just get in there, we gotta play."

Who would do something like that, that's despicable. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to blow off some steam with my Hot or Not app.

The reviews featuring various food-related games by restaurants such as McDonald's has Jon ridiculing said companies for using video games to sell their food...all while he chows down on the pile of Big Macs that suddenly appears on his coffee table.

When Jon first pulls out the VHS of the Star Wars holiday special, he says that he should handle it carefully. Cut to him knocking a bunch of beakers over, putting the tape on the record player, and driving the player's needle through the tape.

I Ate WHAT?!: At the beginning of Starcade Episode 8, Jon is eating apples. C-3P0 then informs him that these apples were actually sentient.

"It is like mother always said: 'A drop in the basket is worth a shepherd's shilling.'"

Idiot Ball: Jon briefly grabs it when trying to fend off Scissor Man in the Clock Tower video where he tries to stop him with some Do Not Cross tape... which Scissor Man cuts through with all the ease you can imagine.

Jon: Welp, better get out my shot-glass. (slams a massive glass mug on the table) Don't try this at home, kids; you just might end up dead.

In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: In the "Star Wars Chess" episode, Jon notes with one game that the developer's name appears twice as big as the words "Star Wars Chess", leading him to sing a "Total Eclipse of the Heart" cover titled "Total Eclipse of the Brand".

Inelegant Blubbering: Fox McCloud being stripped of his Arwing and his blaster. What Rare giveth, Rare taketh away.

In Vino Veritas: Jon's now-unlisted review of Donkey Kong Country Returns, which was apparently made while Jon was drunk, leading to him exhibiting a much more bizarre sense of humor, and using the words "gay" and "retarded".

The memetic "AM I DEAD YET" line from Foodfight! can be this to first listeners, considering it's purposely made to have very intense clipping and as a result be much louder than the audio preceding and following it.

The Jurassic Park: Lost World review, Jon shows off the original film's amazing visual effects by showing how great Jeff Goldblum looks before showing a snippet of the disturbing final transformation scene in The Fly (1986), which also starred Goldblum.

Kill 'em All: Surprisingly, in California Games of all places, where failing to complete the game objectives is leaving one protagonist after the other dead. Not just hinted at, the game is explicitly letting Jon know the characters just died.

Lethal Chef: The one time he's seen cooking is when he mixes nuts and eggs and tries to roast them on a stovetop. The resulting concoction starts exploding and throwing sparks everywhere before emitting noxious fumes that knock him out for a month.

Letting the Air Out of the Band: The Foodfight! episode has a subtle case of this when Jon unplugs the TV to turn off the movie, since the film audio that we hear becomes notably pitch shifted down right when Jon unplugs it.

Logic Bomb: Jacques apparently gives himself one during the Stairfax Temperatures episode.

Jacques: Those who can't teach, preach, and those who preach also teech...

Jon has given us such beautiful similes as claiming that Christopher Belmont "climbs like frickin' The Beach Boys on a hot summer Sunday" and describing a certain enemy in Monster Party as starched white pants "walking around like J. Edgar Hoover on a Tuesday afternoon." To say nothing of his analogy for the resilience of the human spirit in his Stairfax Temperatures review:

Jon: Here I am, a whole year later, still trucking along like a sack of potatoes on a long open road, wishing he'd stopped for gas at the last rest stop, and then on the Interstate 12, he gets hijacked and murdered by a bunch of Quaker ghosts!

The Bootleg Pokémon Games episode ends with... something happening to Jon after he tries to play "Pokémon Black" (no, the other one)note He mistakenly assumes it also includes that one version of Lavender Town. And then suddenly, after we cut to black:

Jacques: Boobs.

The second half of StarCade's final episode wavers between comedy and drama quite a bit. Most noticeable with the parody of Vader's unmasking — it begins dramatically, then becomes amusing once he and Jon start amicably talking to each other (as well as heartwarming to a degree, since it's a reunion of the original Game Grumps), which then turns serious once he starts coughing and appears to be dying... which then turns silly again after he responds to Jon's desperate cries with "Wassup?"

Non Sequitur: In his earlier videos these became more apparent. In his newer videos, though, they're really only non-sequitur without the given context. note For example, this. The context is he previously mentioned Anakin Skywalker's bowlcut.

Non Sequitur Thud: In his Home Alone video, when cooking nuts in a pan with eggs and pepper, he accidentally ends up producing a hallucinogenic gas that starts affecting him. While swaggering out of the kitchen, he says "You'll miss me when I'm gone" in a slowed-down, deepened voice before transitioning to very deep groaning sounds as he goes to his bedroom.

Not Helping Your Case: In "Dark Dungeons", Jon portrays Debbie's professor who tries to get her away from RPGs when he notices her grades going down and claims that she should read The Bible since it has no poisoning, maiming, or killing...only to realize it does.

An earlier example happened during his Bubsy series video, where he invokes this trope upon the second time Bubsy dies to Falling Damage during his play of the first game.note Incidentally, the first time he claims Bubsy dies to falling damage wasn't an example of the mechanic; Bubsy had been struck by an erupting manhole cover just before hitting the ground, but it happened so quickly that Jon didn't notice.

In "The Zoo Race", when a train, being driven by his character (a sheep) crashes through a billboard, and explodes into fireworks, text appears at the bottom of the screen reading: "Reminder: Actually Happening".

Invoked frequently in Titanic: The Legend Goes On, to emphasize the poor quality of the movie's audio and animation.

"I'm not making this shit up" is a phrase often uttered by Jon (or some variation).

From his Bootleg Pokémon Games review:

Jon: "I-I couldn't make this shit up. I couldn't make this shit up if I tr-I'm SAD that I lack the TALENT to make this shit up!!"

Said when Jon experiences nausea induced by "Elsa Throat Doctor" in the Disney Bootlegs episode.

The whole 'mix-and-match console components' aspect is Played for Laughs regularly whenever Jon tries to put the game in the console. It's not uncommon to see something like Jon trying to stuff a game box into an SNES and then tape a Gamecube controller to the controller port. To play Minecraft. Or to tape an RCA cable to the top of an NES, and then stand the cartridge up and try to stick the console on top of it.

He even does this when reviewing a TV show (Goosebumps, to be more specific,) sticking the original books into an NES, a Super Nintendo and then a Dreamcast.

Parrot Pet Position: Jacques spends most of his time onscreen on either one of Jon's shoulders.

[Playing as Tim Allen from Home Improvement, fighting dinosaurs, with a chainsaw]

HMMMMMMMMMMMMM. SHIET.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS A SONIC!?"

When Malkovich offered to take calls from viewers on Malkovich's Gaming Guilty Pleasures, all but one of the callers replied with a simple "Fuck you." The one who didn't asked him a valid question, but followed it with an inquiry about his mother having a penis.

Press X to Not Die: Mentioned in his Titenic review after complaining about how someone thought it would be a good idea to make a game based on such a tragic event, and then bringing up the idea if someone made a game based off of Mount Vesuvius erupting in Pompeii.

Taken Up to Eleven in his Dinocity review. First he tries the Playstation 3. Then his PC's CD drive. Then the DS. followed by the wireless router. Then the dishwasher...three times. He finally figures out it must be a Super Nintendo game. And then puts it in upside-down...

In his review of Goosebumps, he puts a book in an NES. To review a TV show.

For "Nightshade", he casually tosses the cartridge at the machine, which predictably just bounces off and hits the ground.

"TDK, that's short for They Don't Kare about their reputation. A little known fact." "Ubisoft, huh? More like U-Betta-Start-A-New-Company-Soft." "Irem. As in, "IRemember them! oh wait, no I don't." "Ah, my favorite publisher: Absolute-LEE copied Sierra's logo!" "More like the Commodore Sixty-BORE." *snigger*note Just kiddin', it was actually pretty revolutionary

In "Plug and Play Games", he holds up what seems to be a plastic original Falchion. Fire Emblem is referenced again in a Starcade episode with a brief conversation on the screen in the style of the GBA titles.

The title card for "Japanese Shoot 'Em Ups" has Jon and his two parrots flying over the Hoenn region.

His opinion of Kinect Star Wars, where he claims that the game is pretty terrible, but it has enough charm and creativity that it's enjoyable in its own weird way.

Jon pins the Pokémon hack Moemon as unnecessary and creepy, being a version with the Pokémon sprites replaced with little girls. One quick browse through the comments section shows a pretty large amount of people who now feel the desire to play said hack.

His general opinion of "Zoo Race". It's so bad that Jon outright states that the driving factor for him playing the game is to see what the hell the rest of the game has for levels.

Socially-Awkward Hero: During his video with Rosanna Pansino in 2012, he has grown a lot as a person since then.

Jon: Oh Jacques, you can't play! You don't have hands! *Rim Shots are repeated over and over until they turn into a drum solo*

Or another fantastic example from his Nightshade video:

Jon: (Trying to pick up a crowbar) A don't do it, and B don't do it, so what do it? This controller only got twoit... dem buttons... *beat, followed by incredibly sped-up Super Mario 3D Land music with the subtitle 'THAT WAS A JOKE, thx 4 COMIN'*

Another example from his Hercules video:

Jon: Hercules does what Nintendercules! *Car crashes*

Another example from his Mighty Max video:

Jon: I enjoy playing this game. I guess you could say I'm Mighty Maxed out on the fun this game has to offer! *Clip of someone's head smashing into a table, accompanied by a sound of bowling pins falling over*

JONTRON QUITS"Falling damage in a platformer? There are some things no man should have to see. Nice tits btw" says a melancholy JonTron

Squick: invoked Jon's opinion of the DressUpMe Frozen flash games. This section of Disney Bootlegs starts off rather innocently, but slowly gets weirder as it goes on. By the time Jon reaches "Elsa Throat Doctor", he's had enough.

Stock Scream: Jon lets out four consecutive Wilhelms when he tries out the 'scan M-Tag' function on Star Wars Kinect, which produces a screen which appears to be the Kinect centering a crosshair on him.

The Stoner: Sonic Team is portrayed in Jon's Sonic R review as a bunch of nonsensical cocaine-sniffers who barely know what the hell they're doing, which must've influenced the outcome of the game.

He also ends the anti-drugs PSA games review totally high on weed, his entire place filled with pot smoke.

Anytime Jon sings badly. According to Game Grumps, Jon's trained in musical theater, and when he sings properly he's actually pretty good.

His periodic "Review?" videos, which involve him making nonsensical segues, making completely false or just out-there statements, and speaking in a slurred, half-drunk sounding voice.

The Mighty Max review, in which the haunted cartridge is held up by a clearly visible string taped to it and a broomstick that falls into view when he pulls the cartridge down. He's got good enough editing skills to do it better if he wanted to, so it must be assumed this was intentional.

In his review of Sonic Colors (even though he ultimately gave the game a score of "A/5"), he mentions that a crucial matter in determining whether or not the game will be good is that the Wii may not have enough Blast Processing to run it. For those without context, "Blast Processing" is a somewhat meaningless marketing term invented by Sega in the early nineties to promote the Sega Genesis and Sonic the Hedgehog, claiming technical superiority over the Super Nintendonote For those who are really curious, it stood for a somewhat obscure programming trick that made the Genesis being able to map whole levels with enemies/sprites without the need for the screen to scroll to update the layout. Jon takes cracks at Sonic Team regularly, but seemingly all in good fun.

Home Improvement begins "with you standing around like a idiot watching Tim Allen use what he read in a book was "humor." (cue grunt)

In "Are You Afraid of the Dark Pt. 1" Jon rips on Kanye West by asking how he keeps winning awards. It Makes Sense in Context.

In "Plug and Play Consoles", when Jontron is talking about cheap, badly made "bottom of the bin" video games, it shows an image of a bargain bin from Wal-Mart....stacked high with copies of Max Payne 3.

The deliveryman's ending monologue in Food Games: Part 2 is a clear dig at Moral Guardians who blame video games for all the world's ills.

In "Food Games: Part 2" he theorizes that Yo-Noid! 's depiction of New York City takes place after the apocalypse due to an abundance of vegetation, then seigues into believing that it's what the world would look like if Donald Trump became the president of the United States after noticing a building reminiscent of Trump Tower.

In the Starcade series finale, he knocks over a jar containing Donald Trump's hairpiece with a VHS.

The Weird World of PSAs takes a shot against the typical, overused "Mario drugs himself with mushrooms" jokes.

Tantrum Throwing: Nightshade concluded with Jon hurling the cartridge against his garage wall, hitting it with a viking mallet (which broke), and then holding the broken handle like a mic while singing into it. And then he flies into the sun.

The Teaser: Unlike most episodes, "Hercules Games" begins with a clip of Jon playing a game and talking with Jacques. This could be due to the fact that it was the first video after a prolonged hiatus.

Jon's TV woes in the Foodfight! review. His remote doesn't have any batteries, so he has to unplug the TV, and it does. He sits back on the couch and says "Sweet release." The plug then flies back into the outlet and the movie continues playing, eliciting a Big "NO!" from Jon.

Jon (Laughing): Are you kidding me?! You make me look like a jackass?!

Theme Music Power-Up: In the "Takeshi's Challenge" episode, Jon decides to think like a businessman by dressing up as one, while an epic remix of his theme song plays in the background.

Theme Tune Cameo: It's very subtle, but listen carefully to the piano music during the scene where Jon unmasks Darth Vader in the Starcade finale. It's the "Hey I'm Grump! I'm not so Grump!" tune from Jon's former show, Game Grumps. This also counts as some last second Foreshadowing.

Nightshade's hard to impress. You take him to a history museum and you're like "Look at that giant bronze horse from the early BCE times." and he's like "Eh. Nothing unusual here." You take him to the Future History Museum and you're like "Look at that giant hologram horse from the distant CE times and he's like "Nightshade can't do that."

Who Wants to Live Forever?: Jon decides that he wants to play the twelve games of Hercules to become immortal, like how Hercules did his twelve trials. The ninth game makes him decide against it and kill himself. Again.

I don't really wanna become immortal that much anyways, it's too much hard work. You gotta keep watching people going in and out of the White House for the rest of time. No thanks, Samuel!

Jon: Sonic Colors is a game where Sega decided not to fuck up this time.

A Winner Is You: At the end of his review of Takeshi's Challenge, he gets to the end of the cave where the treasure lies, antipating greatness... And then, all that appears is Beat Takeshi's face and the word "Amazing" on a black screen.

Worst News Judgement Ever: In his Clock Tower review, Jon reads an article telling him that the Scissorman is coming to his house.

You Keep Using That Word: One of the California Games characters says the line "Let's drop in on a grommet." Jon is left dumbstruck for a definition.

Ah, grommet. I used to say it all the time back in Cali. Couldn't STOP me saying this word. Grommet this, grommet that. The FUCK does grommet mean?!?

Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Downplayed: when being told by Darth Vader about how impressed he is for capturing Han and Chewie, Jon clarifies that he only did it because "they have no paper trail".

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